Issue - meetings

Alwen Williams (CJC Interim Chief Executive) and David Hole (Corporate Joint Committee Implementation Programme Manager) to present the report.

To approve the Quarterly Report by:

1.     Recommending that the North Wales Corporate Joint Committee enters into discussions with the Welsh Government to receive an update on the arrangements to fund the Bus Reform and Franchising project.

2.     Expressing concern about continuity of service as the Bus Reform and Franchising project is further developed.

3.     Requesting a further discussion to fund a bus (coach) service from east to west Wales and also a bus service from North to South Wales, to complement cross-border rail services, without disruption to local services.

The report was presented by the Acting Chief Executive of the North Wales CJC and the CJC Implementation Programme Lead.

RESOLVED

To approve the Quarterly Report and:

1.   Recommend that the North Wales Corporate Joint Committee entered into discussions with the Welsh Government to receive an update on the arrangements to fund the Bus Reform and Franchising project.

2.   Express concern about service continuity as the Bus Reform and Franchising project was further developed.

3.   Request a further discussion for funding a bus (coach) service from east to west Wales and also a north to south Wales bus service, to complement cross-border rail services, without disruption to local services.

REASONS FOR THE DECISION

The Terms of Reference was approved at the Sub-Committee meeting on 1 October 2024. The Sub-Committee had met on two occasions, and it was considered appropriate to review the work undertaken and ensure that the right resources were in place to meet future developments.

DISCUSSION

It was reported that this was the first quarterly report detailing developments, in line with the North Wales Corporate Joint Committee’s legal duty in relation to the development of a Regional Transport Plan. It was further noted that a quarterly report would be submitted to the Corporate Joint Committee detailing specific projects, the financial performance of the Sub-Committee and upcoming developments. Members were reminded that the Regional Transport Plan assisted local authorities with developments and had no powers over strategic road and rail schemes which were beyond the control of those authorities.

The Sub-Committee and all stakeholders were thanked for their assistance in delivering all the developments seen within the report.

It was confirmed that the consultation period on the draft Regional Transport Plan had started since 20 January 2025 and would continue until 14 April 2025. It was explained that the work was being led by ARUP on behalf of the Joint Committee, also noting that collaboration had taken place with Transport for Wales. An update was given that over 1120 people had responded to the consultation to date, with the expectation that these numbers would continue to increase steadily until the end of the consultation period. It was added that ARUP had found themes arising in several responses, which had been collated in order to respond effectively to any concern or idea presented by the public.

It was highlighted that the local authorities' communications teams had supported the promotion of this public consultation. Furthermore, the Corporate Joint Committee and ARUP had taken every step to ensure that as many people as possible were able to access the consultation, such as a bilingual telephone line, a virtual engagement room and also by developing an easy-read version of the consultation to support anyone who may otherwise find it challenging to understand and participate in the consultation.

It was clarified that ARUP was assessing all responses to the public consultation and they would submit a report on the responses in due course. It was detailed that quantitative questions had been included in the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5